Statement

Mark Udall issued the following statement on his vote against a ban on assault weapons, including some common hunting weapons, proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.):

"Coloradans, including sportsmen, hunters and responsible gun owners, agree that we need to keep dangerous military-style weapons off of our streets and out of places like our schools and movie theaters. In carefully studying the language of this specific assault weapons ban, it became clear that it went too far because it also would have banned certain hunting rifles and even some shotguns. And there was no opportunity to amend this legislation to make it work for Colorado sportsmen. While this legislation sought to keep the most dangerous weapons off of our streets, we needed a more tailored and measured approach that better respected our traditions of hunting, sport shooting and responsible gun ownership. More specifically, if this bill had been more carefully crafted to only ban weapons designed for the battlefield and keep them out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, I would have supported it.

"Although I voted against this version of an assault weapons ban, I voted earlier today for strengthened background-check legislation. And I will vote for legislation that bans high-capacity magazines, because that more focused policy -- similar to what passed in Colorado at the state level -- achieves many of the same goals without unnecessarily infringing on Coloradans' Second Amendment rights."